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There will be no fireworks and no time off from work. In fact, there may not be any celebration at all. But the calendar shows that Thursday is the designated holiday to honor the stars and stripes: Flag Day.

Officially recognized for nearly a century — President Woodrow Wilson first established June 14 as Flag Day in 1916 — but long overlooked in terms of significance to most Americans, Flag Day marks the anniversary of the adoption of the U.S. flag in 1777.

Bill James, manager of the American Legion post in Palmetto Bay, said he believes the holiday provides an opportunity to honor the nation’s most recognizable symbol.

“The flag is a symbol of our country and our history,” said James, 67, a U.S. Air Force veteran who served in Vietnam.

“It’s what soldiers die for — protecting the country, the owner of our flag. It’s to be respected, cared for and honored. The flag is a symbol of who we are.”

Indeed. One part of our nation’s brave military force protecting this symbol is the US Army. Happy birthday, soldiers.

I will not be live today; I’m taking a rare day off to spend time with family and honor the memory of our fallen.

Friday we spent the entire show in keeping with our Memorial Day Dana Show edition: taking tributes for our men and women in uniform from listeners. It’s a broadcast worth repeating. Back live tomorrow.

Democrats are attempting to torpedo support for war funding by latching another massive spending bill onto the war bill – and blaming lack of support for the war bill on the GOP without telling the public about the wasteful spending bill attached to it.

Despite spending $100 billion on education last year with the stimulus – the largest bump of spending in our nation’s history, Obama and congressional Democrats want to spend more money. NYT:

The stimulus program was the largest one-time infusion of federal education dollars to states and districts in the nation’s history. As the program took shape last year, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and other officials repeatedly warned states and districts to avoid spending the money in ways that could lead to dislocations when the gush of federal money came to an end.

But from the start, those warnings seemed at odds with the stimulus law’s goal of jump-starting the economy, and the administration trumpeted last fall that school districts had used stimulus money to save, or create, some 250,000 education jobs.

It’s nothing more than a bailout and as this graph explains, a bailout to cover the mistake of schools mismanaging money given to them, even as they were warned by the Department of Education not to spend as they did.

Democrats are playing games with funding our men and women overseas. Instead of allowing the war bill to pass as is they force their opposition to either oppose it or sign on to yet another big spending bill, both alternatives, Democrats know full well, could be used against Republicans.

Obama is making a huge push to support the bailout:

Despite President Obama’s pledge for honest budgeting and billions of dollars in stimulus money spent to save teachers’ jobs, the Education Department is asking for off-the-books emergency funding to keep local districts from laying off school teachers next school year.

An “off the books” infusion.

The request comes just a year after an unprecedented $100 billion in federal stimulus money was allocated to school districts as part of the $863 billion recovery act. Of that amount, $48 billion was designated for saving teachers’ jobs and investing in educational programs. Another $31 billion in stimulus funds were sent to states for Pell grants, competitive funds and programs helping disadvantaged students.

An additional $21 billion in stimulus money is still available but not yet obligated for district expenses, according to the U.S. Education Department.

And it’s likely that this round of funding would be frittered away, just like the last round, and the round before that. Money isn’t solving the problem of mismanagement and tacking it onto a war bill as a way to pass it is a dirty trick. What provision do Democrats value most: supporting our men and women whom they ordered overseas or sending another wave of bailouts to a corrupt educational system which didn’t manage the its last bailout well?

Giving states another $23 billion in federal education money simply throws more money into taxpayer-funded bailouts when we should be discussing why we aren’t seeing the results we need from the billions in federal dollars that are already being spent,” said House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) in a statement.

Boehner and other Republicans have called for a “clean” war-spending bill.

“Our troops and the American people need this bill right now, not weeks from now, and certainly not after it’s been loaded up with billions in bailouts,” said Rep. Jerry Lewis (Calif.), the ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee.

Republicans should refuse to play this game and we should refuse to allow our troops – or our children’s education – to be used as pawns.

This year saw the birth of the tea party movement, the rise of administrative radicalism, and a suppression of information unlike ever before seen. Were it not for the new penny presses, blogs and the investigative citizens who author them, much of this information would be six feet under. When the media goes state and becomes nothing more than an echo chamber for the government, the task of sharing truth falls to the original keepers of liberty: the American people.

These are the most Underreported Stories of 2009:

1. CLIMATEGATE
Al Gore needs something to sustain him and his big pimpin’ life down at his ginormous, energy-sucking mansion in Tennessee. Thus the green market was born, a made-up market chock full of products like carbon credits and other Willy Wonka (but not as cool) ish items for people to buy as a way to feel good about themselves and their contribution to the planet without having to actually do anything. They don’t need a God! They need a Prius!

Celebrities Botoxed within an inch of their lives began popping up in PSA’s about global warming, about how we need to drive inefficient clown cars that run on electricity (which is still produced in coal-powered plants but hey, whatever) to save the planet. Musicians like Sheryl Crow crowed about using just a square of toilet paper to remove waste that has a greater street value than her latest album. All the hubris manifested in regulations handed down from congress upon the automobile industry, the coal industry, et al., until finally! Cap’n Trade appeared in the House.

Cap’n Trade will rape and pillage your energy bills and even boss you around when it comes to remodeling or rehabbing a home. It’s almost like … congress has nothing better to do.

Then … there was Climategate. Russian hackers revealed emails from a British university (whose edicts on global warming are included in the U.N.’s decision-making process on climate) which showed that the scientists basically had no idea what they hell they were talking about but they did know that their original assessment of increased global temperatures was unsupported by data, thus, “hide the decline.”

2. THE TEA PARTY MOVEMENT
I feel bad for the staffer that had to check Nancy Pelosi’s pants after over a million tea party protesters marched past her window on September 12, 2009.

The tea party movement sprung from plain old disenchantment, disappointment, and outright anger at being fleeced by a government who mistook their primary job as being “spend cash mon-nay” rather than execute the Constitution. What began as a few groups of several hundred people gathering in the cold back in February morphed into a movement so big that now talk of PACs and third parties (total crap idea, that latter) are commonplace and a Republican candidate has no hope of winning an election without the tea party support.

The most misreported and misunderstood thing about the tea party is its political leanings. The tea party has no political leaning. It stands straight for limited government, low taxes, and liberty for all. Disagreement with those tenets is an accidental admission of socialism on the part of the antagonist. The beauty of the tea party movement is that it is independent and thus a true check and balance of the Republican and Democrat parties. It’s not a pawn of the GOP, thus untouchable in criticism of the Democrats – I view it as an unattached conscience of the Republican party.

The tea parties have been smeared, and while some haven’t helped against the charges of astroturf due to their worship of both God and money, the movement is pure.

A new version of the Minuteman has sprung from this movement: the patriot activist with the Gadsen flag on her shoulder and a video recorder or camera in her hand.

Rather, the media interviewed people who said that shooter Malik Nadal Hasan had “trouble fitting in” and isn’t it so sad how he was treated differently because of his religion? Lightbulb moment: hey! Perhaps he was treated differently because he felt prejudiced against his fellow soldiers whom he viewed as infidels who should die?

4. ACORN and SEIU
Only in America can you offer to help smuggle in underage sex workers as part of your description as a taxpayer-funded “neighborhood organizer” and still get federal dollars after the scandal breaks. James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles exposed ACORN for what it truly is: a malignancy that consumes the life out of depressed areas that it never, ever improves, ever, all in the name of making residents dependent upon the teat of government welfare so as to exploit them for votes later”neighborhood organizing.”

The Senate voted 83-7 in favor of de-funding the controversial group. The House voted 345-75 to cut ACORN’s funding, and more than 20 states have demanded either a full investigation of ACORN or that they lose their funding. The IRS also ended up cutting their connections to the group.

O’Keefe and Giles made a mockery of the media who retaliated by refusing to cover the story, further hammering the last nail into their own coffin.

The Senate vote marks the turning point in our government where those elected to represent the constituency failed to do the jobs for which they were placed in office. It was a vote of tyranny, not of representation.

6. NEA The White House is attempting to mimic Leni Riefenstahl by rounding up those in the arts and entertainment industry and using them as the vehicles through which President Obama can peddle his agenda, I wrote back in September. Big Government combed over this scandal which went completely ignored by the media. Union baby Buffy Wicks, head of the Office of Public Engagement and Serve.gov, the NEA, and others joined a variety of artists and promoters on a conference call, the goal of which was to figure out how to create propaganda to support Obama’s policies.

Jinkies! Looks like artists are going to have to work harder and nab more photos that other people have taken so that they can do cheesy, tri-color alterations to them that pass as pretentious, overrated and quasi-Photoshop Level 1 “art” to the people whose discernment went off the rails.

7. DHS, NAPOLITANO TARGET DISSENT
While the Department of Homeland Security and Janet Napolitano were busy marking down the names of veterans, grandmas, and college kids who waved the military-authorized Gadsen Flag or questioned Obama’s policies in public as “possible domestic terrorists,” real terrorists were already in our country, shooting up our military bases and attempting to detonate planes. Michael Savage, himself the target of the British government based upon his dissent, filed suit against Napolitano in April over DHS’s “right wing extremist” report. The charges stated:

“It is a civil rights action brought under the First and Fifth Amendments to the United States Constitution, challenging the policy, practice, and custom of the United States Government that targets for disfavored treatment those individuals and groups that are considered to be ‘rightwing extremists.”

Under the Obama administration, the government has brazenly trained its eye on those who respectfully question the government. Liberals who complained over the Patriot Act demonstrated their devotion to party over liberty by going silent as their American brethren were targeting for doing no more (less, actually) than they the liberals did under Bush.

7. KEVIN JENNINGS – FISTGATE
It wouldn’t be right if our current administration broke tradition with nominating completely inept radicals to high positions of power (gotta pay off those political favors!) and lucky for you betting types, that streak wasn’t broken with Safe Schools Czar Kevin Jennings.

Jennings was appointed to the position largely because of his longtime record of working to end bullying and discrimination in schools. In 1990, as a teacher in Massachusetts, he founded the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), which now has over 40 chapters at schools nationwide. He has also published six books on gay rights and education, including one that describes his own experiences as a closeted gay student.

Behold, the comedy gold:

“Jennings was obviously chosen for this job because of the safe schools aspect… defining ‘safe schools’ narrowly in terms of ‘safe for homosexuality’,” Peter Sprigg, a senior fellow at the Family Research Council, told FOXNews.com.

“But at least half of the job involves creating drug-free schools, and we’ve not been offered any evidence about what qualifications Jennings has for promoting drug-free schools.”

Jennings’ detractors note that he made four references to his personal drug abuse in his 2007 autobiography, “Mama’s Boy, Preacher’s Son: A Memoir.” On page 103, discussing his high school years in Hawaii in the early 1980s, Jennings wrote:

“I got stoned more often and went out to the beach at Bellows, overlooking Honolulu Harbor and the lights of the city, to drink with my buddies on Friday and Saturday nights, spending hours watching the planes take off and land at the airport, which is actually quite fascinating when you are drunk and stoned.”

Er … oops? Nobody’s perfect, but it just seems practical to maybe not glorify drug use in your book while trying to get a job which requires you to keep schools and kids drug free. Too obvious?

State media was silent and liberal sites, such as Media Matters, defended Jennings.

8. VAN JONES
Van Jones signed his political death certificate when he signed a 9/11 truther petition stating that he believed that our own government took down the Twin Towers and not terrorists, the petition brought to light by Gateway Pundit. Of course, under an administration that refuses to even use the language because it may hurt the feelings of suicide bombers and be judged as “divisive,” one can see how Jones might not understand that the terrorists are actually our enemies.

The radical environmental czar (a one-time STORM participant, a Marxist organization) and admitted communist in the Obama administration was forced to resign, further tainting the judgement of the administration, who later admitted to not having vetted Jones well enough.

The disparity between the eerie silence from state media and the raucous exclamations from the blogosphere was expected but sad nonetheless.

9. OBAMA’S LACK OF SUCCESS
Don’t expect to see much media criticism – even if it’s objective and deserved – of our infant Messiah president. The media has a lot invested into him and they unofficially hung the last shred of their validity on his success. It’s not to say that conservatives don’t want a successful president; we define success differently than liberals. Conservatives want the United States to be successful in foreign relations, we want a thriving economy, success in maintaining individual liberty, all the good stuff of which America is made. Conservatives don’t want to see plans to nationalize and thereby socialize the private sector because the very irony of such economic strategy is that it hasn’t been successful in multitude of countries in which it’s been implemented.

The media’s complicity in shoring up a failing president has given an excuse for the current congressional body to repeatedly ignore the will of the people. Blogs are the new penny press; corporate media is dead.

TWO LOCAL STORIES that I’d be remiss not to mention:

1. REP. RUSS CARNAHAN’S BROTHER GIVEN $90 MILLION IN STIMULUS FUNDS
Aside from being Nancy Pelosi’s rubber stamp, it would seem that Carnahan had another motive in voting for an unpopular bill such as cap-and-trade that would be disastrous for a coal state like Missouri, which gets 80% of its energy from the more-efficient-and-less-expensive-than-solar-or-wind coal plants. Tom Carnahan got $90 million dollars of your cash mon-nay to construct his Lego wind farm up in northern Illinois, which he couldn’t have done without massive federal funding. The benefits to Russ Carnahan’s district: 0.

2. Jay Nixon Ozark E. Coligate
Jay Nixon and his administration neglect to inform citizens that E. Coli results in the lake were 19 times higher than state standard. Takeaway: The tests were “apparently communicated to the communication shop, not to the policy shop,” Nixon said.

This morning I joined Jamie as we broadcasted live from the USO at Lambert Airport. It was amazing to see so many of our men and women in uniform all in one place. I’ve never felt so safe in my life.

Many of these soldiers are heading out to Iraq and Afghanistan after this Christmas holiday. One Marine with whom we talked on the show said that this is his first Christmas home with his family since 2001. He’s served four tours of duty since 9/11, two in Iraq and two in Afghanistan.

The gentleman above, in uniform to the left, is a general. The men and women in uniform were still technically on duty and would stand at attention whenever in front of him. We interviewed him on the show and as he called out to the soldiers passing by to give a “HOO AH!” into the mics, they stood straight at full attention towards him and tipped their head before leaving.

Jamie and I interviewing the troops (General Martin in this case). Photo courtesy Doug Edelman.

Merry Christmas to our best and brightest. We have the greatest military in the world because we have the most selfless, bravest VOLUNTEERS who form it. It was an honor just to be there.

Thanks to the wonderful patriots who came out to shower our men and women with warm welcomes, holiday cheer, and candy canes.

The terrorist behind the attack, mutilation, and desecration of our troops in Fallujah back in May 2004 was lucky that he just got off with a fat lip. The nancy cried foul despite a total lack of evidence to support his claim.

Our government has the audacity to press charges against the heroes who apprehended the scumbag.

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